White Lace Dress

I have a convention to go to at the end of this month and I am in need of a white dress. I thought for a few days and decided that I would "NEVER" find an all white dress so I would get some material and make one myself. Well, I found my material at fabric.com and went ahead and bought it. A few days later I was in the mall and what do you know...everywhere had white dresses! I was shocked! But, I committed to making this dress and wanted to see it through...besides...I already bought the fabric! Haha 

I looked around at white dress styles and decided on the dress below. Even tough it is not white, it is a two layer dress with lace on top. This is the style I am going for. It is very summery looking, or I could pair it with a jacket and boots for a fall look. I plan to make this dress this weekend, so I will continue this entry and post the appropriate pictures to show how I did it. I have conceptualized the design for several days now and feel that I have a good grasp on how I want to approach it!

Ok, so I finished my dress! Here is the final product :) I think I did pretty good, even though I didn't quite get the above result, I think I did get close! I am being goofy in the first one :)

Here is how I made the dress: 

Material: Stretch lace on top ($6.98 a yard) and cotton slub jersey knit on bottom ($6.98 a yard). I used right at a yard of each for this dress. 

Measurements: I measured myself in several locations to make sure I had it big enough, you can always stitch in...but you can't add once you cut! Well you can, but it probably won't look good! 

I measured from my seam on my shoulder to a point on my neck for the necklines of the dress and got 7''. I should have only gone about 5.5'', then turned under for my seam. Since I went too far and my neck line was too big, I put 3 darts in the front and back to bring it together. It looks pretty good :)

I measured the armpits of the dress from a previous dress and used 7''. I would recommend 8'' or 9'' though. It is a bit snug under there...but it is stretchy material so it will give. 

I decided to do a 3'' over the shoulder piece. I should have done 2'' instead. Maybe if I did 2'' the 7'' under the arm would not have been so snug.

I measured from the same seam on my shoulder to the point on my leg where I wanted my dress to end and got 35''. I added an inch to allow 1/2'' on the top and bottom to sew. 

I measured from middle side to middle side where I wanted my cinch to go and got 19''.

To find where to put this 19'' line I measured from the same seam on my shoulder to the point on my stomach and got 16''. I put marks on both side of the piece and drew a line. 

To measure the elastic I wrapped it around me in the same spot and then came in a bit to make it stretch. I drew a line there and cut off the excess. I read in a tutorial somewhere that you can measure yourself where you want it to go and then subtract 3''. I probably should have done that...because my dress could have been about 1/2'' tighter in the cinch part. Also, to get more of a flow to your dress, you can make the 19'' measurement (that's what is was on me) a bit bigger and then use a wider zig zag stitch and stretch as you sew to bring it in for a tighter cinch. That is why the inspiration dress looks a big more relaxed on the top and bottom the cinch line. (I will talk more about my stitching in a bit)

I measured from the middle of my hip to the middle of the other hip and got 21'', then I added 2 inches for sewing to make 23''. This is where I messed up and went too big. I was nervous that I would not have enough room. After I got done with the dress I ended up sewing and cutting off 1.5'' on each side of my hip area and I still have good room in this dress!

I made the bottom of the dress 26'' across. 

I should have drawn a straight line from the 19'' mark to the bottom of the dress, the 26'' mark to make an actual A-line dress. Instead I accounted for my hips and made an arc. DO NOT DO THIS! That is why I had to cut off so much excess.

Making your cuts:

Remember that you will need a front a back of your dress. I folded the material in half and then drew out my dress, literally...I drew it out with a crayon! Then I cut it out in the jersey fabric. I decided to cut my top from the bottom and sew them together for when I added the elastic to the middle. Then I put both pieces (tops together and bottoms together) on the lace and cut out my lace, which I also had folded in half. I used scissors to cut this part out. It was easier than using the rotary cutter on the lace.

Sewing the dress:

As you can see from above, I made my cuts from my measurements. Then, I put the lace over the top and pinned the pieces together and sewed them. Once my two tops and two bottoms were done, I sewed the tops together and the bottoms together down one side of the dress. I put the soft side out stretched the elastic until I had it all the way across the dress. I let it naturally gather as I sewed. Remember, leave your settings on a straight stitch for a few stitches forward and back then go into the zig-zag stitch. Then, on the other end do the same, finish it off with a straight stitch.  

I made sure to go around twice so that the elastic was good and down. When you are done, it will look like this:

Below is my finished product :) I enjoyed making this dress. I came close to the inspiration dress, but I made it my style.

Happy Sewing :)

April

Picture transfer to wood

I found a great pin on Pinterest for transferring pictures to wood. So, I thought I would give it a shot. Here is what I did:

I bought mod podge, gel medium, wood, and a paint brush. I got the mod podge, gel medium, and brush from Hobby Lobby and got the piece of wood cut from a 2'' x 8'' x 8' piece of treated outdoor lumber from Lowes (they cut my pieces for me. I did them as 8'' x 10''s.) I printed a picture that I liked. Remember to flip your picture backwards so that when you lay it down it will transfer the correct way.

Then, paint the gel medium on the wood. Get a good coat on there and place your picture face down on the wood. Press firmly and be sure to get out all the bubbles you can. And, remember to wipe your sides off because you will squeeze out some gel to the sides and if you don't wipe it, it will harden on the sides. Also, it helps for your picture to not be any bigger than the piece of wood you are using, just so you don't have to crub the sides to get the paper off!

I forgot to take a picture of this part, but let your project sit over night and don't touch it! Hard I know! The next day, take a warm wash cloth and lightly wipe away the paper from the wood. Your picture will look like the one below. 

Once you have all of the paper off od your wood, let it dry for a few minutes and then put a decent layer of mod podge over the top and let it dry. I did it outside and it took about 15 minutes to dry in this southern heat! 

Once it dries it will look like the picture below!

I will say this word of caution: We tried other pictures and found that deep colors like blue and purple do not transfer well. This works better on black and white, sepia, or light colored photos. Scott does have on a red and white stripped shirt and it came out ok and I am wearing a yellow shirt and it did fine, but be careful of darker colors. I have this sitting in my living room and it looks good! I plan to do more of these of Khloe on thinner wood and hang them in our foyer. I think I may paint the sides to look like a frame on those too :) I loved this simple fun project!

Happy Crafting :)

April

My second bag

After finding out what not to do on my first bag I decided to go a different direction on my second bag. I wanted it to be multi-fabric on the outside and another fabric on the inside and I wanted interfacing added for stability. I did not have stability on my first bag and I will say this definitely helped. Here is how I visualized the bag:

First, I measured how big I wanted the sides of the bag to be and then broke that up into 2 parts. Then I cut and sewed together my two outer pieces (here the blue and yellow). I wanted the bottom of the bag to match the interior fabric so I cut that piece out and sewed it to my sides. Then I ended up with what you see above. I made sure my interfacing would fit between my outer and inner fabric. Then I added my inner fabric to what you see above and sewed the pieces together. 

The above picture is my interior fabric. Now, here is where I didn't quite think it through. I did fine getting this sewn together and down and around one side. But, it got difficult to finish up the other side. So, I do not have a finished bag, but below is my 85% finished bag!

I lack sewing down one side and adding straps. I wish I would have added them when I finished the top yellow edge, but this again is a leaning experience! I also have enough material to do another bag no problem! I will search the internet for a good tutorial and probably go from there!

Happy sewing :)

April

My first bag

I was going to church one morning and thought to myself, "Man, I need a bag to put all of my stuff in!" So, I thought I should just make one. Here is what I came up with. I knew I wanted to bottom to be rounded and that I wanted it to be one color on the inside and one color on the outside. So, here is the fabric I chose...

The chevron print would be the outside and blue on the inside. So, where to begin...I drew out my pattern. Now, I know I have said I don't use patterns, and I don't; however, I needed a line to cut along. Here is my cut out:

You see that black crayon. I HIGHLY recommend you use one. Don't waste your money buying fabric pencils that don't work on all colors, use a crayon. Trust me, it works great! No, I could not see it through the other side and yes it is washable! 

I folded my fabric in half and cut both sides at once to get the same curve on both sides. I did the same thing for my blue material. Then, I sewed the same patterned pieces together along the curve with outside facing each other. Then I sewed on top of each side to the opening to bring the blue and chevron together. I kept my arms attached and then sewed them together. I do not recommend this. I think you should make your arms separate and add them to each side inside the top seam when you sew so it will stay in place. Here is my bag before the arms are finished. 

Here is my completed bag, in use. I added a pocket on the inside, but it was too small. I decided I wanted to do this project again and used lining the next time. Each project for me is a learning experience. 

Happy sewing :)

April

Summer wreaths

I got a few more pillows for my pallet chair at Hobby Lobby and decided that I wanted to make a summer wreath for the front door. Khloe was with me, and once I picked my frame and color of burlap material, she decided that she needed a little frame and material for a wreath for her door too! So, she and I picked our items and went home to make our wreaths. I did hers first...well, she likes to think she did it, but I did it! Here is her wreath :)

Once I was done with her wreath I got started on mine. I found that the burlap was quite a bit heavier than deco-mesh, so I decided to do a wrap and tie my ring. 

Then I weaved the orange ribbon over and under every other loop and finished at the bottom. I did not pin this, it stayed good by itself. Next, I made a bow with both the green and orange ribbon and voila :) I hung my wreath on the front door! I did have to tie the bow on the frame with a long piece of wire. 

Since the sides of the burlap has wire in it, it was easier to twist the ribbon to get this look. I hope you enjoy this project! It was super easy and pretty inexpensive.

Happy crafting :)

April